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The Iowa Hawkeyes have a reputation for taking underrated recruits and developing them into playmakers. A big part of that has been recruiting versatile athletes who could project at a couple different projections.
That fits Story City native Zach Twedt to a T. The Roland-Story product played multiple positions as a prep and could project a couple different places once he arrives in Iowa City. That should sound familiar to Hawkeye fans.
Today, Twedt made things offical with Iowa by signing his national letter of intent.
We Can Finally Twedt It & Make It Official. @TwedtZach #Swarm21 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/3XATNgBfvv
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) December 16, 2020
Twedt comes to the Hawkeyes after being committed to Iowa State for nearly a year during 2019. Iowa fans will be happy he made the switch.
At 6’3” and 225 pounds as a prep, Twedt projects well at a couple different positions for the Hawkeyes. Conventional wisdom had him coming in as a linebacker. He finished with well over 100 tackles as a junior and shows a great knack for filling running lanes, reading the quarterback in coverage and closing on ball carriers for punishing finishes.
But Twedt is also highly capable on the offensive side of the ball where he spent time both at running back and split out wide at the high school level. With the Hawkeyes not expected to sign a tight end in the early period, there is some speculation we could see Twedt give that a go. He has an excellent frame for either position and clearly has the athletic versatility to make either a possibility.
A 3-star prospect according to both Rivals and 247 Sports, Twedt committed to Iowa State back in January of his sophomore season. He then decommitted in the midst of his junior season and joined the good guys a few days later. With the early commitment, Twedt’s only offers were from Iowa and Iowa State, though he had interest from both Nebraska and Notre Dame.
Twedt is one of 10 commits in Iowa’s class of 2021 to hail from the Hawkeye state. Should he end up at linebacker, he’ll be one of four in the class joining Minnesota native Justice Sullivan and fellow Iowans Karson Sharar and Jaden Harrell. As noted, Iowa does not have any other tight ends currently expected to sign NLIs in the early period.
Welcome aboard, officially, Zach Twedt!